Surviving Between Jobs

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Hire for Talent

In a story about hiring for the soon-to-be-reopened  Westin Book Cadillac Detroit hotel, there is a one sentence quote that sums up the most important lesson you could learn in an MBA course on personnel selection.

Human Resources Director Diane Tursntall says, "We're training for skills and hiring for attitude."

Beautiful.

Some of my hiring mistakes have come when I forget that distinction. You can teach in knowledge and skills, but you can't change a person's attitude, character or talents with any amount of training. I wasted many hours -- mine and the employee's -- by trying to teach in things I should have hired for. They had many good qualities, but lacked an essential one or two. I couldn't correct that and it was probably unfair to try.

Freedom Forum Seeks McGruder Nominations

A personal highlight for me last year was winning an award named for Robert G. McGruder, the guy who put me in my job as recruiter for the Free Press. (The photo I have tucked in here shows a commemorative brick I ordered for a Poynter walk project.)

You can read more about Bob here.

Now, it is time to seek nominees for this year's award. If you know someone who would fit the bill, please te;; the Freedom Forum's Jack Marsh. It's all right here:

Nominations being accepted

for 2008 McGruder Diversity Leadership Awards

The Freedom Forum, in partnership with the Associated Press Managing Editors and the American Society of Newspaper Editors, is accepting nominations for the seventh annual Robert G. McGruder Awards for Diversity Leadership.

Two awards are given annually: one for newspapers with a circulation up to 75,000; one for newspapers with more than 75,000 circulation.

The awards go to individuals, newsrooms or teams of journalists who embody the spirit of McGruder, a former executive editor of the Detroit Free Press and relentless diversity champion. McGruder died of cancer in April 2002.

Jurors will be looking for nominees who have made a significant contribution during a given year or over a number of years toward furthering diversity in newspaper content and in recruiting, developing and retaining journalists of color. The deadline to make a nomination is Aug. 1, 2008.

Announcement of the winners will be made at the annual APME conference, Sept. 8-11, 2008, in Las Vegas. The recognized honorees each receive $2,500 and a leadership trophy.

Who is eligible? Individuals, newsrooms or teams of journalists from U.S. daily newspapers are eligible. A nominee's newspaper must participate in the American Society of Newspaper Editors' annual employment census.

The awards recognize achievement for the past 12 months or contributions over a number of years.

What are the criteria? The Diversity Leadership Awards honor an individual, a newsroom or a team of journalists for significant leadership in diversity through:

• Recruitment: by   providing opportunities for journalists of color to learn about news   careers and to enter the newspaper industry in internships and full-time   jobs.

• Development: by   offering opportunities for journalists of color to grow in their current   roles and to receive mentoring and training to advance to positions   of greater authority, responsibility or expertise.

• Retention: by ensuring   that journalists of color want to remain in the news industry by providing   an inclusive work environment that offers opportunities to contribute   and advance.

• Content: by reflecting   a diverse community accurately and in a way that demonstrates community   and industry leadership. The definition of diversity in content includes   ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, religious   background, political bent and physical ability.

Nominations can be made by individuals, newspapers, professional organizations, schools of journalism and others.

Rules for entries: Send a letter (of no more than three pages) outlining specific information about the achievements and how they benefited the community, the industry and journalists of color. The letter should include the name of the person making the nomination and his/her signature and telephone number.

You may supplement an entry with clips, but please send no more than four. Send copies no larger than 11 by 17 inches.

Send material to: Jack Marsh, jmarsh@freedomforum.org, Freedom Forum Diversity Institute, 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001

Deadline: Materials must be received in the Freedom Forum’s Washington office by Friday, Aug. 1, 2008.

Nominations will be judged by a committee that includes representatives of APME, ASNE, the Freedom Forum and UNITY: Journalists of Color.

Want to Work at the Washington Post? Apply Now

It seems counterintuitive, but I maintain that now is a good time to apply the Washington Post.

The paper completed a hundred buyouts Friday. Given that buyouts are voluntary, it is impossible for them to have occurred in precisely the places the Post would have wanted them. In fact, people have already been repositioned internally to cover critical jobs.

Soon, a few more people who did not apply for buyouts will be leaving because they were shaken loose by the whole buyout process.

And then the Post will dip below its layoff target.

With some critical spots still uncovered and a payroll that dips below the new budget plan, expect to see some ads for jobs at the Washington Post soon.

UNITY Early Bird Deadline Almost Here

Yo have just a few days left to get a cut-rate registration to the UNITY convention to be held July 23=27 in Chicago. The $325 rate goes up March 15.

Have Others Dress You for Success

Thanks to Adam Sings in the Timber and others at Reznet for showing people how Jordan Dresser, with the help of three fumble-fingered recruiters, put on a tie at the Spirit of Diversity job fair in Detroit.

The slide show is here.

Learn Something New in 2008

Make new skills part of your New Year's resolutions.

Here is an opportunity coming up immediately.

The early-bird registration deadline for the Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism, to be held March 14-16 is Jan. 15.

Informational Interviews

I recommend a recent article in Forbes about informational interbiews. Good, solid advice.

The parts I liked most: " Use your school's alumni network to find contacts in your field and send an e-mail explaining where you located their contact information and that you're interested in talking about the company and industry. ... The person you meet with initially might not be in a position to hire. He might not even be in the department you want to work in. If that's the case, the idea of the meeting is to leave with another name and phone number for a more appropriate contact at the firm."

Tilt Your Head Right for Job, Left for Date

A new book by Tonya Reiman, "The Power of Body Language," says you could get remarkably different results in a job interview depending on whether you tilt your head to the left or the right. If you want the job, tilt right, If the interviewer is cute, tilt left.

If wondering what to do when the interviewer tilts doesn't make you anxious enough, Reiman also gives us 12 bad ways to shake hands. No wonder our palms get a little sweaty.

The book is not entirely -- or even mostly -- about interviewing. It is about body language. Chapters include:

• Take control of your own secret signals
• Gain trust -- and detect untrustworthiness
• Make a dazzling first impression
• Exude confidence -- even when you're not feeling it
• Recognize if someone is lying
• Understand why men and women "speak" a different language
• Read a face to know a person's inner emotional state

There are many books about body language, but this seems to have more illustrations than most of them -- and that's a big help.

Reiman describes herself as a certified hypnotist, body language expert and professional speaker.

Earlybird Registration for UNITY is Open

Earlybird registration for the UNITY: Journalists of Color convention in Chicago has opened.

UNITY will be July 23-27, 2008.

Earlybird rates are $325 for members and #150 for students. Those are great rates.

UNITY is composed of the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the Asian American Journalists Association and the Native American Journalists Association.

To sign up early as a member, you'll have to have your membership number. The site is here.